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Meidlinger Partners, LLC, a Philadelphia based private equity firm, announced today that its affiliate, Meidlinger Partners Sustainable Investments, LP, completed a $500,000 investment in Liberty Hydro, Inc., a water industry focused environmental technology and service company based in South Charleston, West Virginia.

"Vic Sprouse, Liberty’s CEO, has done a tremendous job commercializing the company’s technology in the growing market of selenium removal."

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB)October 20, 2010

Meidlinger Partners, LLC (Meidlinger), a Philadelphia based private equity firm, announced today that its affiliate, Meidlinger Partners Sustainable Investments, LP, completed a $500,000 investment in Liberty Hydro, Inc. (Liberty), a water industry focused environmental technology and service company based in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Liberty designs, installs and services proprietary filtration and advanced treatment systems to remove elements such as selenium and other metal items from by-product water associated with mining and other industrial applications. Selenium is an essential nutrient, but in humans and wildlife excess amounts can be dangerous. Liberty, which was formed in 2009 and has experienced significant growth since its inception, currently has the largest number of selenium removal treatment systems in commercial application.

Kevin Brophy, Meidlinger’s CEO, is confident that Liberty will continue on its rapid growth trend. He noted, “Liberty formally organized in late 2009 and is already experiencing strong growth. Vic Sprouse, Liberty’s CEO, has done a tremendous job commercializing the company’s technology in the growing market of selenium removal. Liberty’s multiple competitive market advantages include a power-free, gravity flow design and product pricing at a fraction of the competition.”

”On the technology side, Liberty is on the cutting edge in their field,” Mr. Brophy continued. “Their technology has significant advantages compared with other equipment on the market because it does not require biological inputs which can be expensive and difficult to fine tune, and because it requires less residence time to remove selenium impurities, reducing the amount of real estate needed for an installation.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates drinking water through the Safe Drinking Water Act and waste water through the Clean Water Act. However, the regulation of selenium and metals from coal and phosphorus mining as well as from the power industry has been left up to individual states.

"Selenium is entering the waterways from a number of sources,” explains Dr. Karen Meidlinger, managing principal at Meidlinger Partners. “For example, the pollution controls that clean toxic emissions from the smokestacks of power plants can capture residues containing selenium which are subsequently released into waterways. It is expected that the EPA will issue new regulations requiring mines and coal-fired power plants to remove selenium from waste water in order to meet or exceed the recommended limit five parts per billion. The revised EPA standards, expected to be released soon, will likely provide more stringent regulations to protect fish and wildlife from toxic metals and other elements, particularly selenium, in waste water.”

“Liberty’s system,” Dr. Meidlinger continued, “which begins with an analysis of the polluted water to help determine the most effective approach, provides a comprehensive solution to reduce or remove selenium from waste streams meeting both current and anticipated future EPA standards.”

Vic Sprouse, Liberty’s CEO, commented, “We are pleased to have Meidlinger Partners, a leading national water industry focused private equity investment firm, as an investor in our company. Dr. Meidlinger will make a welcome addition to our board of directors given her water science background and years of experience working with early stage growth companies, and Mr. Brophy brings a strong sector background to assist with our industry expansion.”

This is the third portfolio company investment for Meidlinger Partners, LLC and its affiliate Meidlinger Partners’ Sustainable Investments, LP following their first investment in Triton Water AG, an advanced water treatment company headquartered near Hamburg, Germany in 2009, and Environmental Operating Solutions, Inc., an environmental product and service company based in Bourne, Massachusetts in June, 2010.

ABOUT MEIDLINGER PARTNERS (http://www.meidlingerpartners.net)
Meidlinger Partners, LLC is a Philadelphia, PA based private equity firm that manages the Meidlinger Partners Sustainable Investments, LP private equity fund. The fund invests in and grows lower market U.S. and Western European companies that have scalable solutions to address the world’s water issues.

ABOUT LIBERTY HYDRO, INC. (http://www.seleniumremoval.com)
Liberty Hydro, Inc. applies its proprietary technology along with well established industrial water treatment techniques and unit operations to ensure compliance with EPA regulations. They provide a reliable system using their proprietary zero-valent iron technology that reduces the total selenium of wastewater to below 5 ppb before it is discharged to nearby streams. The system can be utilized in remote locations where power is not provided and its small footprint allows it to be used in almost any application.